SKU: PALGEN

The Leader's Guide includes background information for each activity, suggested teaching strategies, a list of materials needed for each activity, and suggested questions to deepen youths' investigations. No prior science knowledge is necessary to successfully use the AXIS curriculum.

This unit allows youth to explore paper in a variety of ways. Working in teams during after-school activity time, youth have the opportunity to ask and answer the following questions:

How do we use paper in our lives? What impact does our use of paper have on the environment? Youth explore the multiple ways they interact with paper on a daily basis. They estimate the amount of paper they use in one day and then use this information to estimate the amount of paper their community uses in a single day. Youth are asked to consider their own beliefs about recycling, and explore the need for sorting recycled paper.

What is paper made of ? Where does paper come from? Youth closely examine paper and the papermaking process. They explore how paper is made and consider the natural resources used in the process. They also compare and contrast different types of papers, discover that paper is made up of fibers, and have the opportunity to make their own paper.

What are some of the properties of paper? How do those properties allow us to use paper in different ways? Youth explore the strength of paper and its ability to absorb water. They test different papers to determine which is strongest and explore how folding paper into different shapes can influence its strength. They also design a paper airplane that can fly at least 30 feet. Next they test the strength and absorbency of several different brands of paper towels to determine which they would purchase. Finally youth are asked to reflect on what they could do to encourage others to reduce, reuse and recycle paper.

49 pages